Ladybird GTX 285 Review

Introduction:

The world of video cards has taken quite an interesting turn these past few months. The focus has slowly shifted further and further toward ATI, as users are awed by the 5XXX series cards. The 5870 and 5970 are two of the cards that managed to rip a great deal of attention away from the green team, and with good reason. These DX 11 capable beasts are able to shred through most any game at insane framerates. Not only that, but it seems as though there is a 5XXX series card aimed at every user, which puts NVIDIA in quite a tight spot. The green team hopes to pull some of the focus back with the release of its new series of "Fermi" cards.

This is not a review for one of NVIDIA's new series of cards. Instead, this is a review for one of NVIDIA's GT200 graphical computing beasts, the GTX 285. It's been a long time since I've seen mention of this card in forums, or else where, but it can still hold its own in most benchmarks and it can still cripple many of ATI's offerings. This means the card should still be considered for any new gaming rig. That being said, it does have two very obvious downsides; the price, and the fact that it is not DX 11 capable, which may prove to be one of the cards biggest downsides!

Today, I'll be looking at a GTX 285 from a company that flies ever so slightly under the radar - Ladybird! No, I'm not talking about Hank Hill's dog, I'm talking about a company that sells NVIDIA GPUs. Many of you may have never heard of this company, but that doesn't necessarily mean you should stray away from its products. The Ladybird GTX 285 may perform extraordinarily well in benchmarks. In order to figure out whether or not this is the case, we'll need to put the card through OCC's benchmarking suite. How will it perform? Read on and let's find out!

Closer Look:

I can't count the number of times that I say this, but packaging is actually extremely important. Without it, the hardware you purchase would arrive in pieces. Ladybird's packaging did one hell of a job protecting its version of the GTX 285, because that box definitely got tossed around. The card was not shipped to me inside of a "Brown Box", but rather in the GPU's box itself. There were a few dents in the packaging, but much to my surprise, absolutely no damage to the card. The front of the box appears to be rather empty. The right side depicts a helmet with some of the cards specs beneath it. To the left of the helmet is the remains of the sticker labeling the card a GTX 285. The top left of the box features Ladybird's logo. The back of the box also features some of the card's specifications, but it goes into much greater detail. The sides of the box sport Ladybird's logo.

Upon opening the Ladybird GTX 285's box, you'll find a second box, only this one is shiny and black! Upon opening this second box, you'll find a driver CD sitting on top of a thin layer of protective foam. Removing the foam reveals both the GTX 285, and its accessories, very securely packed in more black foam. No wonder the card was not damaged during shipping!

Like many other GPU's, the Ladybird GTX 285 comes with a bunch of goodies. I was a little disappointed to not find a DVI to VGA adapter, however, there was a DVI to HDMI adapter, which in some ways is more important. Most enthusiasts now days are using a monitor that supports DVI. However, there are quite a few enthusiasts that would like to use their 70" HDTV's to game on. The card also comes with a molex to 6-pin connector, a component connector, an SPD/F audio cable, a driver CD, and a quick start guide.